Chris Kaplan, proprietor of Mawker Coffee, has been in Shed No. 2 at Dallas Farmers Market for 11 years — in other words, long before that $3-million redo. He was there when it was unbearably cold and insufferably hot — when it was known as “The Freeze and Fry Building,”…
Organizers of last night’s public hearing on the Bishop/Davis Land Use and Zoning Study at Methodist Hospital in Oak Cliff tried to head off any contentious quarreling and outbursts from the get-go. “Be respectful to everyone. There really isn’t any reason to not be,” organizers said. Play nice, or stay…
On Monday, Mary Suhm will present to the council the FY2010-11 budget, from which she had to trim some $131 million — a “painful, painful, painful” process, as she put it one month ago, because it will involve laying off hundreds at City Hall and gutting the budgets in myriad…
Update at 8:35 p.m.: The Dallas Police Department has sent a statement from Chief David Brown regarding his comments about the increase in the number of reported sexual assaults this year — and the reaction to them. It reads, in full:Chief Brown wants to emphasize, “I absolutely did not state…
A programming note.A few weeks ago we gave you the very advance heads-up that tonight, at the Belo Mansion, the Dallas Bar Association is hosting the “Dallas Tomorrow” forum featuring quite the bold-faced line-up: Mayor Tom Leppert, University of North Texas Chancellor Lee Jackson, Trinity Trust President and CEO Gail…
It’s been some three months since the City Plan Commission took up the Bishop Davis Land Use & Zoning Study, only to decide, against city staff’s recommendation, to put the thing under advisement pending further public comment. Said commission chair Joe Alcantar, “We want to make sure that we hear…
After the city council on June 23 delayed voting on the Dallas Love Field Airport concession contracts for a second time, food and beverage concessionaire Gilbert Aranza utilized the council’s July recess to commission an analysis of the city staff’s recommendations. Dr. Richard A. Briesch, an associate marketing professor at…
Initially, this was to be a quick chitchat with the mayor about the proposed ban of K2 and other dope substitutes, which, as Andrea noted earlier today, is on its way to a sure slam-dunk by mid-month at the latest. But Tom Leppert hung around long enough to talk to…
Don’t know what to tell you — certainly didn’t think we’d be into our third item about that Woodall Rodgers billboard. But Frank Librio, the city’s spokesman, has, as he promised last night, looked into how it got there; so too Morgan Lyons, Dallas Area Rapid Transit’s chief talker. So,…
Both Dwaine Caraway and I hope you had a fantastic summer vacation, but it is now time to get down to business at today’s Public Safety Committee meeting. First up, Dallas Police Chief David Brown’s crime report, wherein he is happy to report that overall crime is down 6.1%, due…
For those unfamiliar with the story of Saad Nabeel, there’s quite the extensive Wikipedia page — but long story short, he’s the Bangladeshi-born 19-year-old who, till recently, had been in the States since he was 3, when his folks came here seeking political asylum — a request repeatedly denied. And…
In recent weeks we’ve taken sneak peeks at how pending budget cuts will more than likely gut the library system. But till Monday rolls ’round and Dallas City Manager Mary Suhm debuts her proposed FY2010-11 budget, we won’t know for sure how deep those wounds will run. Nevertheless, Friends of…
‘Bout an hour ago I heard from City Hall about the black hole no wait 2001 monolith whoops Phantom Zone gateway pardon I mean Spinal Tap album cover dang itbillboard hovering but a few feet from the Woodall Rodgers ramp spilling into northbound Stemmons. Per Frank Librio, who says this…
It’s going to be a long, effin’ hot weekend — good for staying inside and reading council docs, now that the brain trust is back from its summer vacation. Tomorrow morning I’ll post my chat with the mayor, but for now a few highlights to consider, chief among them Park…
Last night, more than 100 folks packed into the dining room at Vickery Towers “senior living community” for a standing-room-only public meeting on the proposed plans to rezone Lowest Lower Greenville Avenue as a Planned Development District — a plan opposed by the Lowest Lower Greenville Avenue Business Association, the…
Yesterday Friend of Unfair Park John M wondered if we had any spare interns who’d be able to snap a photo of the newly installed billboard next to the Woodall Rodgers ramp that dumps into northbound Stemmons Freeway. And when I say “next to,” I mean “right on top of,”…
Forthcoming, my very early-morning chat with Mayor Tom Leppert, during which we touched on, among other things, his call for a citywide fake-weed ban, the now-sidelined Dallas Watersports Complex and the fallout from Monday night’s surprise announcement concerning Cliff Manor. But during the interview, I asked the mayor about concerns…
From the September 3, 2004, issue of the Dallas Business Journal, in a story headlined “Projects afoot for South Lamar area” about developer Jack Matthews’s plans for the area around his South Side on Lamar:A 70-room boutique hotel, long Part of Matthews’ vision for the area, is also moving forward…
Late this evening I was poking around the City Secretary’s site to sneak-peek the council’s doings upon its return to work Monday. At which point I noticed that when the Public Safety Committee reconvenes at noon, City Attorney Tom Perkins and Dallas Police Deputy Chief Patricia Paulhill will brief the…
Richie asked Schutze yesterday what he should ask Mayor Tom Leppert, who appeared Wednesday on the sports programme he hosts with one Greg Williams afternoons on 105.3 The Fan. Schutze’s suggestion — something to do with airport contracts at DFW International. Needless to say, that did not happen.Instead, Richie and…
Update: Chris Heinbaugh, Mayor Tom Leppert’s chief of staff, responds, briefly, to some questions I had for him this morning. They follow after the jump.This morning a Friend of Unfair Park directed our attention to None Zip Zero, a Web site created by opponents of Dallas Housing Authority’s efforts to…
On Tuesday, I asked several city officials one very simple question: Just how effective are these “warrant roundups”? Because, as we noted, bright and early Sunday morning the Dallas City Marshal’s Office will hit the streets yet again to go after scofflaws with unpaid citations, threatening everything from putting a…
